Perk’d Up’s – Festive Christmas Burger DIY

Perk’d Up impressed me with the Bacon Cheeseburger DIY. The first offering of a Christmas Burger I have seen in the UK ever-growing DIY kit list. The preorders started and I think it is safe to say Cheeseburgerme were straight in with a double order for our Canada vs London special review. We chose this ‘special’ as our first Head to Head between reviewers from two sides of the globe to bring our tastebuds to a competitive battle both on paper and the camera!

The Bun: 20/20

The bun, a brioche style much appreciated by us sweet toothed Londoners, did me proud. It held well against the Wagyu beef drippings and this actually surprised me having had one of my favourite buns from Burger and Beyond under a similar condiment a few weeks ago. For me, a bun that holds well with a lot of moisture threatening to saturate it to mush, yet still keeping a fluffy texture with good shape is an absolute winner!

The Toppings: 5/10 (Missing Component)

Now, this was a complicated section for me given that the Brandy Honey Pigs in Blankets did not turn up thanks to Great Food2u (second time they have omitted one of the ingredients on a DIY Kit). Irrespective of the delivery company’s oversight the Rosemary Potato Rosti was so, ridiculously good, I have to score with what I had. I am a bacon fan and not having bacon inside the stack of this burger was a little gripe of mine but the texture and flavour of this rosti was brilliance indeed. It offered a slight breaking up of the ‘usual’ inside of the burger stack and to good effect. The balance was not disrupted in the slightest by something a little more obscure but, in fact, complimented and heightened the flavours inside the stack.

The Condiments: 2/10

Some pallets could appreciate the Jagermesiter Cranberry Jam and the Waygu Beef Drippings Gravy. For me, the two condiments were not something that I could quite get to grips with. The Jagermeister Jam definitely had the Jager flavour and reminded me of many a night at university throwing shapes on top of tables. Maybe it was the nostalgia of those nights and the feeling in the morning sitting through lectures with jager breath and paracetamol on tap. The Wagyu gravy was not much better either unfortunately. On the cook it looked lumpy and not extremely inviting. Layering on the top bun, as instructed by the DIY kit, it did start to take a little more smoother texture but for some reason it reminded me of Angel Delight back when I was a kid. Regardless of the optimism that maybe my boyhood flashbacks were compromising my ability to give an objective review, I can say that the condiments were not my cup of tea. The gravy was redundant against the components in the stack and the jam had a strong infusion of an alcohol that just did not resonate with me.

The Patty: 18/20

125g of happiness. Best way to describe this patty. I have many similarities and yet one fundamental difference to the Canadian counterpart sharing in the review of this Festive Burger: The gamey flavour in the beef which I love! Maybe it is something to do with the purity of the beef over there, or something to do with he being so well travelled and having a more varied pallet internationally? Well, we could argue until the cows come home – see what I did there – but for me, this patty is one of the best out there! I love the beef at Perk’d Up and for you guys supporting the London reviewer let me tell you, this patty is great! I know, for sure, this is one area that my esteemed friend will have a difference in opinion so I look forward to reading his comments.

The Taste: 15/20

Despite the condiments being not to my liking the rest of this burger did some real positives in the taste test. Overall each bite was dominated by the Rosemary Rosti and the brilliant beef, thank goodness. The Camembert Croquette just added that hint of cheesiness and added a marvellous texture that I have not been fortunate to have eaten in any burger stack. If I was to make this DIY Kit again i could easily turn this into a a 20 scoring by adding a real slick bacon and a burger sauce, but then it would not be a festive burger! The taste certainly had a ‘special’ feel about it and certainly correlated to the Christmas theme and was worth the order 100%.

Our Verdict: 80/100

Perk’d Up served a great festive DIY Kit. The instructions, I have to add, are a little confusing and this is something that needs looking at. They seem to have a part about bacon in there, no doubt some confusion between their festive offering and their core bacon cheeseburger product. The instructions also do not explain how to cook the potato rosti so for anyone listening out there, it goes in at the same time as the croquettes! I had to contact them via instagram and they were back within a short time with an apology and the much needed instruction to what turned out to be one of the stars of the show for me. I think any Christmas offering of a burger is a risky move as our pallet for burgers and the core ingredients which we all know and love can be overwhelmed by ‘festive flavours’. This risk, in my opinion, had done Perk’d Up a justice well deserved with a well researched flavour profile. Although the condiments did not work for me the other components in this burger were fantastic and delivered a brilliant version of a burger with a Christmas theme.

Canada Comments and Rating: 72/10

The kit comes with some coffee infused Jagermeister sample bottles but the instructions might have been written by someone who had been trying the samples as there were a couple of mistakes.  No cooking instructions for the roasti but did tell you when to start frying the bacon that wasn’t part of this burger.  For the record, we called and asked and the roasti goes in the oven with the camembert.   Overall, this was a fun cheeseburger that we enjoyed after putting up our Christmas tree to make for a festive afternoon.  I hope Perk’d Up tries it again next year, although with a couple of small modifications.   And one option we tried with the spare set was to combine the ingredients differently…used the camembert as an appetiser and the roasti as a side dish, leaving a really top notch hamburger for the main dish.  Still festive, just in a different way than intended.